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March 22, 2012

This is Dedicated...

To the one I love...

Today we celebrate our 9 year anniversary. We are officially stepping into our 10th year of marriage. I'm taking a journey down memory lane....thinking about who we were back then.

I was the girl that got married before many of my friends. I was the girl who had a big career planned, in addition to an even bigger plan to eventually be a mommy. Funny, I never introduced those plans to each other. I was the girl that took a huge "risk" ....in marrying him based not on our history, but on our future. Based on trust, not in my future husband, but in a God that I knew had it all under control.

We didn't have the perfect love story. Parts of it were sweet and sappy. Take our family history for example. Our grandparents regularly met each other for breakfast at the local Hardee's restaurant back in the day. Awww. So sweet. But our actual relationship? It really had not proven itself to be ...sturdy. I'd say rocky at best.

In fact, I was dating someone else when he decided he wanted to marry me. We had the young and crazy on again off again relationship. I wouldn't exactly call it a "fun" game, but it was the one we played. Back and forth. Eventually I grew weary of that game, so I moved on. Dated an old boyfriend. Ara decided to join a young singles group at a church we didn't attend. They were doing a study on courtship, and he asked if I would come too. Ha! I told him I would come, and bring a friend with me. But I was not going as his girlfriend. I was going as a friend. That lasted about 3 or 4 weeks....each week more intense than the previous one. He would walk me to my car, ask me a bunch of nonsense questions about my future plans... Then one night after the class, he told me he thought we should get married. He knew I was who he wanted for the rest of his life. Did I mention we weren't dating? I said, no way. I'm not even sure I want to date you again...I'm dating someone else. Two days later I broke off the deal with the old boyfriend, you know...so I could sort things out in my head. And less than a month after that, I had a beautiful diamond ring on my left hand. The rest...is history.

Little did I know, that our "history" (to date) would include many more heartaches and struggles than I ever could guess we would endure. This man, that I was praying I made the right decision to trust with my heart....is the same man that has shielded my heart from so much. He has held me up when I literally couldn't stand anymore. When I thought I might die from anxiety. We've laughed together...probably an unnatural amount of laughter. No really...he's SO. FUNNY. And we've cried together. Happy tears. Sad tears. Tears of devastation... tears of disbelief. We've celebrated huge milestones. We've moved 300 miles away from the only home we've ever known. Away from all our extended family. We've battled health struggles. We've conquered debt. We've survived devastating losses. (Yep...more than one.) We've remodeled an entire house together. We've watched in awe as our oldest started Kindergarten just this year. Through all of these moments, he has been my constant.

He's gonna be thrilled to see this pic. :) Love you honey!

Going out on a limb with this man was the best thing I could've done. Even then, knowing it was a big step to jump into a relationship that was yet to show stability, I still knew he was a great guy. I had no idea he would be the man he is today. I'm so proud to call him my husband. I can't begin to tell you how thankful I am that he's mine.

I love you, Ara. Thank you for being the most wonderful husband and father a girl could ever ask for. Here's to many, many more years of laughs.

About Me

Hello! My name is Ashley. I started this blog to share my experiences as I make baby steps toward making our house feel like home. We purchased our current home in late November 2010 after relocating to the great state of Georgia. This is my attempt to train the perfectionist in me to rest, while I conquer gradual changes in my house on a budget. In this and many other aspects of my life I am looking to find comfort and satisfaction in the imperfections, rather than stressing the details.